xvi. " The Friend"

“Your friend here is worried I don’t have friends, and currently, she isn’t the only one,”

He looked deep into her eyes, the mystery still lingering. He always wondered if her eyes were black or simply dark brown that looked black due to the lighting. But now, after having asked, he could only see a dark brown shade drowning those mysterious eyes.

It was still hard to read what she was thinking about. It was all because everything about her screamed mystery and unknown. She had a pure poker face that made him wonder if she knew all the answers and was simply trying to see if he will tell the truth, if is she was simply bating him.

“Content?” She asked, her voice soft and in a light whisper as she pulled away more and more, and simply left behind a lingering warmth.

Jungkook simply bit his lip, dropping his head and nodding as he was far beyond content. He always wanted to see what kind of emotions a hug will stir inside of him. He has never been shown any type of deep affection, let alone shown it himself.

His heart was racing a little bit, the heart monitor show that his heart was racing, and he really despised it. He wanted to simply rip the chord out of the outlet and finally have peaceful silence. He wanted to be able to talk without his heart’s beat be given away by an annoying and hair pulling beep.

He looked at her briefly, only to see her eyes slightly squinted. She was scolding, and it was clear from the way her brow scrunched that she was not content with him. It felt rather odd, he felt like his stomach was swelling seeing her look at him like that.

“You’re disappointed in me,” he whispered, his fingers finding one another as he begun to fiddle with the peeling skin that was at the edge of his fingers.

He begun scraping on the side of his fingers, right there on the edge of his nails until the loose skin begun to peel. He needed to keep himself busy as he was not content with the deep and cold silence that followed his question.

“Yes, but I worry the most, I worry you will get seriously hurt Mr. Jeon. I don’t know what I would do if I find out you will be buried six feet under,” she spoke, her voice strong but it was clear she was trying hard to collect her jumble of emotions into a sentence.

She worried, that wasn’t the first time someone has told him they worry. But it was different this time, he didn’t know what about it was different but, it made his heart sink. Not once in his life, has this feeling ate him up. Whenever Jin scold him that he could get killed drag racing, it did nothing to make him feel any different, he still went for the next drag race.

But hearing it from her, it was so much more different. He didn’t know why, but his stomach was sunk so low, from this unexplainable uncomfortable feeling, he could feel it at his toes. He didn’t know what was going on but, he just knew, he never wanted to feel like that. He knew, that he cannot let that look of disappointment tint Cinderella’s face ever again.

“Death isn’t scary, it is peaceful. Life is terrifying, it is harder and it is painful. Everyday it is a fight with everything and everyone, you have class every day. I’m sure you know first hand how tiring and painful days can be,” he spoke, his voice striking a chord in her as her breath hitched at the simple comparison.

He wasn’t wrong. Everyday is a struggle, a never ending and painful struggle for her. He knew very well she was working to pay off tuition, and looking at her visage, she was nearly graduating. It was all a battle to keep going strong until the war is won, but there are times due to bad exam grades or simply not enough time that one contemplates giving up.

“It is a fight, but that is why you have friends and family. You, Mr. Jeon, have neither, and that is the one thing I want you to do. Make a friend, have a family member to rely on because who can win a war alone? Every day is a battle, but one needs an army to fight, do they not?” She asked, her voice full of wisdom and simply, making her sound older than she appears to be.

He looked at her, his nerves jumping at the fact that se went at him with a sharp tongue only to have his anger soothed out with her sweet smile.

“Are you not my friend?” He asked, his voice sarcastic as he was not sure where she was going with this conversation.

“I am, but I can only be with you for two hours out of the week,” she spoke, her lips tugging into a smile as she looked at him with this shine to her eyes.

She was content with his manner of joking. It was refreshing and overall, comforting. Simply because it was clear that his mindset was changing, and that was a big-first step. The first step to solving any problem is recognizing there is a problem, and Jungkook had already shown he does recognize there is a problem.

The only thing he doesn’t see, or simply refuses to see, is that the problem might be completely different and more rooter than he thinks it is.

“Junhong!” Jungkook spoke, his voice a near yell that echoed in the room.

The simple shout caused the towering bartender to stroll in with a dumbfounded look on his face. He simply took his headphones off and looked back and forth between his friends and the healing heir on the bed.

“Yes?” He spoke, extending his vowels as he was not sure why he was called, let alone, why he was responding like a dog to a command.

“Hey buddy, remember when you said you will take an assistant position if it opens up?” Jungkook spoke, his words being spoken in the rate in which the idea hit his head.

It was a crazy idea, simply because he wasn’t fully managed to get the Moonbin situation under control. But if Yein was right, and Moonbin simply needed to see that Jungkook will be fine without him as his assistant, it will no longer be a situation needed to solve.

“Opportunist, you say that to every neck-tie wearing person that walks into that bar,” Cinderella spoke, her words a little exasperated as she was a little surprised that his sarcastic words actually reeled someone in.

Junhong simply send a death glare her way, his head shaking as he wanted to simply yell a big ‘told you so,’ at the top of his lungs. He knew that someday someone will bite, giving him the opportunity he needed to get the job he paid tuition for. She always told him it was a waste of time, but it no longer is.

“Yeah but I really do mean it. I have an ITM major you ing loser, why wouldn’t I try to get a better job?” He shot back, playful sarcasm tinting his words as it only eared a chuckle from her.

An ITM degree was not the most prestigious degrees out there in the world of engineering. Jungkook knew this first hand because there was a saying in his university when he studied abroad that basically said, your IQ is the same as your age if you flunk out of ITM. But, that is a degree worth something in the world of business, technological business to put it in better words, and it will have to do.

“It’s still a managing degree. There are technology managers in my company, I can set you up in that position in a year or two,” Jungkook spoke, his words causing the entire room to hold their breaths.

Junhong and Cinderella were looking at him, their eyes widen in disbelief that he was actually considering it. No, that he was actually doing it and was, in fact, not bluffing.

“You are serious about giving me a job?” Junhong asked in pure disbelief as his words were barely audible.

“Your friend here is worried I don’t have friends, and currently, she isn’t the only one. Remember the problem I’m having with my current assistant?” He asked, leaving his words to linger in the room as Junhong simply looked at him with a gaping mouth.

One the older boy nodded, Cinderella had to do a quick double take. Junhong did tell her that Jungkook went to his bar on Wednesday, but not that he decided to spill his troubles out. But the more she kept thinking about it, the better it sounded. Jungkook was confiding in someone to tell his troubles to, and regardless of who that someone else was, it was clear that there is a change in the young heir’s mindset.

“I really want him to move out of that position because he deserves so much more, but he will not do it if it involves leaving me alone. If you were to take the position as my assistant, and sees we are friends, he’d finally accept the promotion,” Jungkook spoke, his body simply relaxed at the idea that seemed very thought out.

“I thought we were dating, oh snap. See, you wanted to buy me raw beef, so I thought you wanted to go out with me. Do you only see me as a friend then?” Junhong begun to speak, his voice dragging out this tone of regret.

Cinderella bit her lip, trying very hard to pull back her laughter as Junhong tries to pull another one. It is something he says to guys at the bar that are annoying him. It is his own way of scaring away male customers he doesn’t want to deal with, simply because majority of them are straight men who get freaked out.

“No, I was serious about the raw beef date but, my family cannot know about us,” Jungkook spoke, his face cleared of any type of amusement and hint that he was joking.

The room turned awkwardly cold as Junhong never had anyone bounce back so quickly, let alone, someone like him. Jungkook never strike him as a laughing type, let alone joking type. He knew how to be sarcastic, that much he has shown, but he never seemed like the type to go along with a joke like this.

“Junhong has not been to a date in five months, just a warning,” she spoke, her voice full of amusement as she was honestly in shock.

She never expected a side like this to be shown from Jungkook. He has always been very serious and not the type to even laugh. But, with each session, he always finds a way to surprise her. Even if it is in a negative way. Maybe the sessions have been working, maybe Jungkook has been listening to her and taking her advise to hear and that is why he has been able to open up.

But a huge part of her didn’t want to take credit like that. It almost seemed like Jungkook has been opening up himself, and this side of him was one that he always had. From listening to him, and simply studying the patterns of his behavior, he has a hard time distinguishing between who he can be, who he has to be, and who he wants to be.

Every person carries a variety of personas. A person is not the same when they are in a job interview and when they are in a club at midnight with their friends. It is normal to pull different versions of oneself to fit a certain scenario.

Jungkook seemed to always have this child like persona inside of him, just that hour alone, he has shown a child-like vulnerability. And that only kept drawing her into him, having her wonder and guess what persona he will allow to show through next.

The rest of the session was spent talking. Jungkook was explaining to Junhong what happened at work. What kind of job Junhong will have to do. It was interesting to sit back and just watch it all unravel before her eyes.

One of the many worlds that Jungkook lives in, was being described in a far more detailed description that she could have ever gotten. Jungkook is the head of the marketing and promotion branch of his company. He is in charge of numbers, how much the company can afford to push a product and their brand.

He is in charge of dissecting the competition and coming up with the best time and campaign to beat their opponents. She could tell that Jungkook found some joy in his work, and that was mostly the creative outlet of it all. He is in charge of everyone who would come up with designs and slogans for promotions, everything from photography to calligraphy, he had the final approval. He is in charge of a huge chunk of his company, and he seemed to handle it well.

He will be a great CEO, she knew he could be a great boss. But not at that moment, and not any time soon. He was comfortable handling a branch, but the stress it puts on him, is terribly visible. It always is visible, the only problem is, people become oblivious to it.

So, she wondered if he will ever be able to handle the pressures and stress that comes with handling the company as a whole. He was a smart man, he was very talented, but there is only so much a person can handle, and she always knew that Jungkook was already reaching his limits, it is very clear from the moment she had her first session with him.

The only thing that is left to wonder is, how much longer did he have before he hit his limit